RoundAbout San Diego

This was a great cake to end the St. Patrick's Day dinner I had prepared for friends. I served it with vanilla-whipped cream (1 C cream, 2 Tsp vanilla, 2 Tsp powder sugar). However, there are a couple of things that didn't quite turn out as well as expected.

First, all my raisins sank to the bottom half of the cake. I believe that by the time I had completed all the creaming of the butter/sugar, whipping the egg whites and folding them into the batter, more than 30 minutes had passed for the soaking of the raisins. Maybe they had soaked up more whiskey than intended and then settled during the baking time. Second, the cake took only 35 minutes to cook and even then was a little dark around the edges - probably 30 minutes would have been perfect. I don't know if this was a mistake in the recipe or if I did something wrong in the preparation.

Despite all this we really liked the cake and it was all gone by the end of the evening.

Irish Whiskey Cake
Arlyn Hackett via San Diego Union Tribune

1 C raisins
2/3 C plus ¼ C Irish whiskey (divided Use)
1 Tbsp finely grated lemon zest
1 Tbsp finely grated orange zest
1 C unbleached all-purpose flour or whole-wheat pastry flour
1½ Tsp baking soda
¼ Tsp salt
4 eggs, separated
1 C butter, room temperature
1 C brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In small bowl, combine raisins, 2/3 cup whiskey and lemon and orange zest. Let stand 30 minutes.

In a bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff. Set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, to the butter/sugar mixture. Mix well. Stir in the raisin/whiskey mixture. Mix well. Stir in the flour mixture.

When batter is well blended, fold in the egg-whites. Pour into a lightly oiled 9- or 10-inch round pan and bake for 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until a tooth-pick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven and immediately puncture the top of the cake several times with a toothpick. Gently pour 2 Tbsp whiskey over the top of the cake. Let the cake cool and remove from the pan. Sprinkle another 2 Tbsp whiskey over the top of the cake.

Wrap the cake in plastic wrap until ready to serve. The cake may be served hot or cold and is best made a day ahead.